News from Czech beer scene plus some more stuff. Na zdravi!

Great article about basic brews that define the beer we know today. Keystones of the industry. They may not be te best ones out there but all of them are significant and unique. I´m proud that one Czech brew is included.

“Business is booming for microbreweries, but in the clamour for new flavours don’t forget the classics which changed the face of beer drinking, say Ben McFarland and Tom Sandham.

Unlike this chap, we’re all over the whole “craft beer” thing like a flannel.

What’s happening in beer at the moment can only be a great thing. After decades of drinking the same old stuff you get in the supermarkets, pub-goers are being greeted with genuine choice at the bar; flavour has been placed firmly at the forefront of the British beer scene; and, finally, people are realising that they don’t have to put up with piss-poor brews if they don’t want to.

It’s great that breweries are experimenting with new ingredients, innovating with new techniques and, in terms of flavour, pushing more envelopes than a drug fuelled Lance Armstrong locked in a sorting office, paying back the multi-million dollar sponsorship owed to the US Postal Service.

Yes, sometimes the new-world beers can be a bit much and, yes, they can be a little unbalanced and inconsistent. But these are necessary growing pains of a burgeoning scene that is grabbing the established brewing hegemony by the ankles, giving it a shake and watching all the grubby coins fall out.

The same accusations were levelled at Australian and American winemakers 50 years ago, but only the most myopic of old school oenophiles would argue that the emergence of New World wines hasn’t been a good thing.

That said, as we admire the scampering pomp of the new-world beer scene, let us not forget the “old world” brewers who have been brewing “craft beer” for centuries. After all, to fully appreciate the joyous beers of the present, it’s essential to understand the beers of the past.

Below are six classic beers that changed the world beer scene – the giants on whose shoulders contemporary craft brewers currently stand. They are the brewing blueprints, the founding fathers, the unwavering upholders of tradition deserving of considered appreciation from every craft beer connoisseur.

Illustrious and inspiring, they are to beer what the Aston Martin is to the automobile; the little black dress is to fashion; and Les Dawson is to ropey piano playing. Liquid legacies of a certain time and place, these are the kind of beers that once in a while, turn up rather quietly, and remind you why they’ve achieved such greatness.”